Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and committee for giving me opportunity to join them this morning to discuss the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly, in particular, regarding domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I thank them for their support and commitment on this issue. I want to take this opportunity to thank the chairperson, Dr. Catherine Day, and other members of the assembly for their dedication to, and hard work on, this topic. I welcome the Citizens' Assembly's examination of these critical areas of life and policy. As the committee members will be aware, this is an area of work on which I, as well as my colleagues in government, have identified as a priority. We welcome the committee’s interest in advancing these recommendations. It should be underlined that the majority of the recommendations are very much aligned to work that is being carried out across Departments and in particular, by my own Department. Any recommendations that are not already captured by our ongoing work will, of course, be considered on their own merits.

Some of the work aligned to the recommendations made by the assembly includes the audit of how responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is segmented across different Government agencies, which was published in July of last year. As well as this, there is the development of the third national strategy to address domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which I will submit to Government in the coming weeks. There is also the review of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence, which was undertaken by Tusla and was published in February. It took into consideration both the needs of victims and the types of accommodation that is required.

In addition, as part of the implementation of Supporting a Victim’s Journey, my plan to help victims and vulnerable witnesses in sexual violence, we worked with our NGO partners and others to map the journey faced by individual victims to identify issues and support needs not met. Following this, my Department conducted a review of the grant schemes application to identify and address any gaps in services. On the foot of the outcome of this work, I provided additional funding of €445,000 to organisations in 2021 to fill the gaps that were identified. The mapping exercise identified situations in which there are parallel civil and criminal proceedings, and possibly child protection proceedings, as having the potential to further traumatise victims and to give opportunities for perpetrators to seek to exercise coercive control. My Department is working with key NGOs to identify practical solutions based on international best practice to address these issues.

Work is under way to develop specific training for all of the key personnel, including those in the legal profession, with whom a victim may come into contact during their journey throughout the criminal justice system. The introduction of preliminary trial hearings will reduce delay and allow for sensitive legal issues to be dealt with before the trial starts. In March, my Department held its inaugural victims’ forum for State, social and community groups. Findings from these forums will assist my Department, and indeed other Departments, in developing further supports for victims.

Improving the system for victims, particularly for vulnerable victims, is a key priority for me and for my Department. As part of the reforms being introduced under Supporting a Victim’s Journey, the victim will be entitled to their own dedicated legal advice and support throughout the process. The major reforms we are driving will collectively ensure we have a criminal justice system that places victims at its centre and that removes the fear many victims have in coming forward to report what happened to them. This should be a system that supports, informs and empowers vulnerable victims at every point. I appreciate that that is not the case at the moment. That is what we are striving to achieve.

I am also currently leading work on a new whole-of-government strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which will further advance the recommendations made by the assembly. This new plan will have a particular focus on prevention, as well as on ensuring that victims are better supported. It will set an overall goal of zero tolerance in our society for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

A number of the objectives in the new national strategy are in line with the assembly's recommendations. The first of these is to ensure the availability of accessible, quality specialist and community-based domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services across the State, so that all people who experience domestic, sexual or gender-based violence have access to integrated services, no matter where they live. Another objective is to ensure a victim and survivor-centred wraparound service through the creation of a clear, integrated local pathway. This builds on the mapping of the victim and survivor journey work we have done. It is for adults and for children, both female and male, victims and survivors to access the domestic violence and sexual violence information services and various different supports. The strategy has been developed in partnership with the sector to ensure it is targeted, comprehensive and effective in achieving all of the goals that we set.

I am finalising the strategy for submission to Government in light of the public and sectoral consultations that formed part its development. I am also working on finalising an accompanying action plan for the rest of this year and next year, which will set out how each of the arms and aims of the strategy will be achieved, which Departments and agencies are responsible for them and the timeframe for delivery, so that it is targeted, ambitious and deliverable. I intend to bring both the finalised strategy and the action plan to Government in the coming weeks.

Furthermore, it is my goal that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one. I am deeply committed to working with partners in the sector and with Government colleagues to achieve that. I acknowledge that this is also a key recommendation.

In February, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, and I published the review by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, of accommodation for victims of domestic violence. The review highlights gaps in geographical coverage and inadequate provisions for safe accommodation. It provides a list of priority areas where additional services would address the most immediate need. I fully acknowledge the need to dramatically increase the provision of refuges across the country. Key to this will be ensuring that organisations can access the funding that they need. To this end, I have established a high-level interdepartmental group to review the current system for the provision of refuge space and accommodation and to identify changes that can be made to deliver additional spaces as effectively and as quickly as possible. The timelines for delivery of refuge places, as well as further targets for national and nationwide delivery of refuge accommodation, will be outlined in the third national strategy. Further detail will be contained in the accompanying action plan.

Committee members may also be aware that the Government will, for the first time, establish in law a national agency whose task will be responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The agency will be responsible for overseeing all of the actions set out in the third national strategy for delivering domestic violence services.

It will bring together the expertise that exists within my Department and Tusla and will report to me and to any other subsequent Minister for Justice. Bringing the responsibility for policy and service delivery together under one Ministry, establishing the agency in law, and introducing oversight from the Department of the Taoiseach demonstrate our recognition of the need to have a dedicated and expert-focused approach to this work. It demonstrates our commitment to work together to reach our goal of zero tolerance and to ensure the coherent delivery of the best possible DSGBV services and supports throughout the country.

I want to emphasise that I am committed to the challenge of preventing and responding to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I acknowledge that while we have achieved a lot in this area, much work still needs to be done. Zero tolerance of all forms of DSGBV is an ambitious but necessary goal and by continuing to work together I am confident we can achieve that. I very much look forward to continuing to work with the committee to progress the recommendations of the assembly. I again thank the members for having me before the committee this morning.